Dawn of the Planet of the Apes makes a monkey out of its summer competition

The Godfather Part II. The Empire Strikes Back. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. The Dark Knight. Just in case you’re a bit slow on the uptake, these are all sequels that not only managed to meet the expectations of their masterful predecessors; in some cases they even surpassed them. Now, you can add Dawn of the Planet of the Apes to the list; a remarkable sequel, which takes everything that made Rise of the Planet of the Apes such a rollicking surprise and amplifies them by adding new layers of pathos, character development and intensity. Dawn elevates this franchise to a whole new level of awesomeness. Dr. Zaius would be proud.

At the film’s start, a horrible virus has already wiped out most of humanity. In the wake of this catastrophe, Caeser (Andy Serkis, reprising his role as our hero from Rise of the Planet of the Apes), governs a new generation of genetically evolved super-apes. This civilization is cut off from the rest of the world and the apes go about living, learning and loving in peace. When a small band of human survivors stumbles upon the outskirts of their home, it begins a downward spiral, which will ultimately lead to an explosive showdown between humans and apes. Why can’t we all just get along??

Director Matt Reeves has officially cemented himself as one of the most talented working directors of this day and age. I’m a huge fan of his first film Cloverfield and was pleasantly surprised by his remake of the Swedish classic Let the Right One In, but both of those films play like warm-ups to his work here. He takes his time building suspense and his action sequences aren’t just composed of mindless explosions and computer generated trickery; there’s a weight to the proceedings that evokes a real sense of dread. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes uses the morose mood in its favor and in a way that thankfully doesn’t feel like a tacky knockoff of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy. (COUGH*MANOFSTEEL*COUGH*) There are moments of understated beauty here, moments that tend to get overlooked in these kinds of films and I’m so thankful that Reeves included them.

While we’re on the subject of effects, can we just go ahead and give this SFX team all the awards now? They’ve really raised the bar, combining state of the art technology with empathetic animation. And if there is any reason to revisit the ‘Why can’t a computer generated performance qualify for a ‘Best Actor’ Oscar?’ argument, Andy Serkis’ performance as Caeser is it. His capabilities as an actor are truly extraordinary and his performance in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes may be his best this side of Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. Equally strong is Toby Kebbell as the rebellious and dangerous Koba, who spent the majority of his life as a lab experiment and has nothing but contempt for the human race.

The human cast fares about as well as they can in the wake of these two stunning performances. Jason Clarke and Gary Oldman stand at the forefront; the supporting cast featuring Keri Russell, Kodi Smit-Mcphee and Kirk Acevedo give strong performances, despite the limitations of their more simplistic characterizations. The screenplay by Mark Bomback, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver does an excellent job of fleshing out its characters so they serve a greater purpose than to stand and gape at all the pretty effects, but there’s no question that the apes steal the show here.

Technically, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is flawless. I’ve already given a shout out to the VFX department, but also worth mentioning is Michael Seresin’s stunning cinematography, James Chinlund’s striking production design and the haunting score by Michael Giacchino, who continues to cement himself as one of my favorite working composers. Dawn is a visual feast and Reeves orchestrates it with passion and elegance.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes captivated my attention from its very first shot and never let it go. I don’t think there’s a single wasted moment in the whole 130 minute running time. It’s one of the best films of the summer and, quite frankly, I’d rank it amongst the best films I’ve seen so far this year. It continues to pave the way for what is shaping up to be an incredible ‘rebooted’ franchise. You’ll be hard press to find a blockbuster more emotionally satisfying and thrilling.

FINAL RATING: 4.5/5

Summer Movie Review Catch-Up, The Final Four: Chef, Edge of Tomorrow, The Fault in Our Stars and How to Train Your Dragon 2

CHEF

God, I love Jon Favreau. Us Marvel fans owe him a great debt for essentially kick-starting the Marvel Studios film franchise in the grandest fashion. And maybe it’s a put-on, but he genuinely seems to be one of the nicest people working in Hollywood today.  In the wake of his big-budget filmmaking debut, Favreau has toned it down tremendously, opting to write, direct and star in what is clearly a major passion project for him. Chef might leave you starving for some a great meal by its conclusion, but your appetite for a great movie should be totally satisfied.

I don’t want to delve too much into its plot; I knew next to nothing about Chef going into it and I’d like to extend the same courtesy to you. All you need to know is that Chef is heartfelt and hilarious, an instant charmer with a great cast and a superb screenplay/direction. It delves dangerously close to sentiment in its conclusion, but by that point you’ll be so invested in the characters you won’t even care. One of the best movies of 2014 thus far.

FINAL RATING: 4.5/5 

EDGE OF TOMORROW

It pains me that we live in a world where Transformers: Age of Extinction made more money in its opening weekend than Edge of Tomorrow has in its entire domestic run. While Transformers 4 may mark the age of extinction for cinema, movies like Edge of Tomorrow give me hope for a brighter future. It’s exciting, full of breathtaking action sequences and, to top it all off, it doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Doug Liman, after running into a couple of slumps with Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Jumper, is back in spectacular form. Aided by an intelligent screenplay written by Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth and Christopher McQuarrie and the impeccable talents of Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, Edge of Tomorrow is basically the sci-fi action movie equivalent of Groundhog’s Day and what’s not to love about that? This is sure to go down as one of the best sci-fi entries of the 21^st century.

In the wake of the upcoming summer release schedule, Edge of Tomorrow will probably be swept aside in the fray, but if you get a chance, make your way to the theater as soon as possible to support this gem. It’s well worth your time.

FINAL RATING: 4.5/5

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS

I was a bit hesitant to see this one at first. Nothing against the source material, which was very well-received, but it definitely appeared to be catered towards a certain kind of audience. One I very rarely find my views aligning with. After hearing it was written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, the same pair who wrote 500 Days of Summer and The Spectacular Now, my interest was kindled. I’m quite happy to say that The Fault in our Stars is rather wonderful. It’s sweet, genuinely funny and rather moving. It doesn’t quite manage to avoid its sentimental tendencies entirely, but, thankfully it isn’t too cloying.

That’s really its greatest strength - it doesn’t pander to a particular demographic. Sure, the male love interest is a bit too perfect, giving the female audience cause to swoon and dream in the hopes that they might find their own Augustus, but the story does not in any way dress up the pain and suffering that comes with cancer. It keeps the story grounded, even when the love story seems a bit too perfect to be totally realistic. And how about that cast? Shailene Woodley turns in another fantastic performance as Hazel Grace; Ansel Elgort is almost nearly her equal, delivering a charming and, at times, rather heartbreaking performance. They are the heart and soul of this movie and their honest performances make it very easy to invest in their characters’ journeys.

It may not be perfect, but The Fault in Our Stars gets by with strong performances, a solid script and great direction. If you haven’t seen it by now, you probably never will. But, don’t be put off by the target demographic; The Fault in Our Stars is really, really good.

Okay?

Okay.

FINAL RATING: 4/5

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2

How to Train Your Dragon 2 doesn’t quite live up to the lofty standards of its magnificent predecessor, but it gets the job done with great gusto. It’s certainly one of the better sequels out there and a fine continuation of this proposed trilogy. It deepens its characters, darkens the mood and continues to deliver heartfelt animated storytelling of the finest quality.

Taking place five years after the first film, How to Train Your Dragon 2 follows the exploits of Hiccup, now a young adult, and his dragon Toothless. Their village Berk has adapted to life with dragons in the most splendid fashion, integrating them into all their daily activities. Hiccup is next in line to be the village chief, but he’s not quite sure he’s ready for the responsibility or if it’s something he even wants to do. Things become more complicated when Hiccup and his friends get involved in a maniac conqueror's plot to rule the world using a dragon army.

The storyline mimics its predecessor in that it’s essentially about Hiccup re-finding his place in the world. I think there’s a line near the beginning of the movie where Hiccup flatout says, “I might have figured out who I am, but now I have to figure out who I am all over again!” It’s not particularly subtle about its lack of new ideas and despite some really great twists and turns along the way, this sequel doesn’t really push the franchise in any new directions.

Despite retreading a lot of the same character beats as its predecessor, How to Train Your Dragon 2 still manages to entertain, enthrall and stir the emotions. That it feels more calculated is to be expected, but the pleasant surprise is that it manages to rise above its shortcomings, becoming a worthy continuation of this excellent series. Sign me up for #3!

FINAL RATING: 4/5

X-Men: Days of Future Past Gives Me Hope for a Better Future...Past!

Eight years ago my friends and I headed to the local theater for the midnight release of X-Men: The Last Stand. We had been eagerly awaiting its release, reading every scrap of news we could possibly get our hands on. We were disappointed that Bryan Singer was no longer involved with the franchise, but the latest trailer had been pretty great and, hey, Brett Ratner wasn’t so bad, right? I mean, Rush Hour was fun and Red Dragon was pretty good too. So what if X-Men 3 was getting mediocre reviews? My friends and I were determined to have a spectacular time anyway.

Oh, how wrong we were.

To this very day, the midnight showing of X-Men: The Last Stand stands as one of the most appalling, spirit-crushing moviegoing experiences of my entire life. I watched in horror as the franchise director Bryan Singer had so meticulously set up in X-Men (2000) and its superior sequel X2: X-Men United (2003) came crashing down in the worst possible way. Gone was any emotional subtext, character development or anything remotely meaningful. In its place were God-awful special effects, horrendous dialogue, dreadful characterizations and, well, it was just an all-around piece of garbage. Sure, I’ve seen worse films, but in terms of sheer awfulness and disappointment few movies come close to X-Men: The Last Stand. It was the most viscerally negative reaction I’ve ever had to a movie in all my life. That's right, even more so than the dreadful Star Wars prequels.

When the movie ended, my friends and I had a long discussion about whether or not it was worse than the Godfather of awful superhero films: Batman & Robin.

“You expected Batman & Robin to be bad after Batman Forever,” I said. “X-Men 3 is almost worse considering what came before it.”

“But,” my ever-optimistic friend Richie interjected, “What if Bryan Singer could come back? What if he could fix everything X-Men 3 did so horribly wrong and set the franchise right again?”

I told Richie it would never happen.

I am so happy that I was completely wrong.

Eight years after the travesty that was X-Men: The Last Stand, Bryan Singer has returned to revitalize the franchise he so expertly began. And what a revival it is. Watching X-Men: Days of Future Past feels like waking up after an eight-year nightmare. It brings the series back to the former glory of its first two entries and is a spectacular summer blockbuster.

In the ‘not too distant future,’ the earth is a vapid wasteland. Sentinels roam the streets, hunting down and exterminating all of mutant kind. The surviving X-Men are planning a last-ditch effort to save human and mutant-kind alike: travel into the past to change the future. For some odd reason, Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) is now capable of phasing people into their past bodies, even though it doesn’t quite fall in line with her mutant abilities. But, who cares?? It’s fun, just go with it. Naturally, Wolverine is the only one who can survive being sent all the way back to his younger body in the seventies, due to his regenerative abilities and the film producers’ inability to make an X-Men movie that DOESN’T star Wolverine. Once there, he joins up with the younger Charles Xavier aka Professor X (James McAvoy), Erik Lehnsherr aka Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and Hank McCoy aka Beast (Nicholas Hoult) who aid him in his quest to set things right and save the world!

As far as plotting goes, Days of Future Past is a bit convoluted. There are lots of characters, lots of settings and lots and lots of happenings, some of which don't make a lick of sense when logic is applied to them. But, these things are expertly balanced by Singer’s deft hand and an excellent screenplay by Simon Kinberg. (This guy wrote X-Men: The Last Stand too?? How is that possible???) The cast is wonderful. Hugh Jackman leads the way, continuing to play Wolverine as if his whole purpose in life is to do so. James McAvoy reprises his role of Charles Xavier from X-Men: First Class, giving a much deeper, more emotionally satisfying performance than he did in First Class. Michael Fassbender is a marvel to behold - as always - and his take on mutant baddie Magneto continues to be one of the highlights of this franchise. Of course, the true standout performance is Evan Peters as Quicksilver. He’s brilliant beyond all reason and I really wish he’d been able to play a larger part in the film. Maybe next time? Please? Peter Dinklage is also pretty great as Sentinel creator Bolivar Trask, even though his character isn’t given much subtext beyond his primary motivation to develop the mechanical behemoths.

Surprisingly, the weakest link in this strongest of strong ensembles is Jennifer Lawrence. Lawrence, who is unquestionably one of the finest young actors working today, phones in her performance, giving dry, emotionless deliveries of all her lines. Somehow, she isn’t even capable of exuding the sexiness that is inherent to the character of Mystique. Hopefully she’ll get her act together by the time the inevitable sequel comes around.

The action sequences in Days of Future Past are astonishing. (Especially the one starring Peters’ Quicksilver) Singer captures the excitement with zest and, most importantly, clarity. I really would have loved to see all our favorite X-Men team up to do battle in the film’s climax as opposed to just a select few. I suppose in the age of Joss Whedon's The Avengers it’s natural to be a bit disappointed when a film like this doesn’t end with an all-out, character-driven explosion fest. I also miss the more subtle character development of the first two X-Men flicks. It feels like in the chaos of the action and the attempt to juggle the ensemble cast, smaller moments are a bit harder to come by. When they do, though, they're pretty great - especially the scene in which McAvoy's Xavier meets his older self. (Played to perfection by Patrick Stewart, another actor born for the part)

And can I just throw in a random aside and mention how thrilled I am that John Ottman returned to score Days of Future Past, utilizing his superb theme from X2: X-Men United? Seriously, I'm 5 minutes into the movie and I'm already squealing in my seat like a Twilight fangirl.

At the end of the day, despite whatever personal qualms I may have, I couldn’t be happier with X-Men: Days of Future Past. It completely washes away the bad taste of X-Men: The Last Stand and sets the whole franchise back on course in the most splendid fashion. With Singer set to return for the sequel, my hopes for this franchise’s future are at an all-time high!!

FINAL RATING: 4.5/5

22 Jump Street - The Best Comedy Sequel of All Time! (?)

Try counting out on your fingers all the great comedy sequels you can think of. And I’m not talking about just ‘decent’ comedy sequels. They need to be able to stand on the same level as their predecessor.

Go ahead, give it a shot. I’ll even let you cheat and use Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz, even though it’s not technically a sequel.

Have you thought it out a bit?

Did you get past one hand?

If you did, I’m not sure I trust your instincts on what constitutes a good comedy sequel. The general consensus is that sequels in this genre are doomed to fail long before they’re even out the gate. The main issue is that comedies aren’t typically designed to carry long-running franchises – the jokes become stale, the characters reveal themselves as one-note and dull. What started off as fresh and fun becomes repetitive and lame. Good comedy sequels are a rare breed. So, when I say 22 Jump Street could very well be the very best comedy sequel I’ve ever seen, it may seem like I'm damning it with faint praise.

I assure you, this is not the case.

22 Jump Street is spectacular. I enjoyed it every bit as much as I enjoyed its surprisingly fantastic predecessor. It’s hysterical and intelligent, always a winning combo. The screenplay, penned by the same writer as the first Michael Bacall (This time joined by Oren Uziel and Rodney Rothman), addresses head on the shortcomings of sequels in a fresh and inventive way. I worried it would get a bit smug with its self-aware attitude; it never does. It’s endlessly endearing. Also returning are the first film’s directing duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Hot off the release of what is arguably one of the best films of the year, The Lego Movie, Lord and Miller continue to show they just might be one of the finest directing duos this side of the Coen Brothers.

Of course, punchlines are nothing if you don’t have the right people delivering them and once again Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum prove to be one of the finest on-screen teams in any movie of any genre.  Period. They’re kind of like the modern day Riggs and Murtaugh of Lethal Weapon fame, only a hundred times more insane. Seriously, I love these two and I love their chemistry and I hope we get more and more of these movies as long as the same creative team is involved.

I’m sure the charm will fizzle at some point, but right now that point seems a long-ways off. Bring on 23 Jump Street.

FINAL RATING: 4.5/5